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Prayer, invoked with the #pray extended command, is an action used to communicate with the player's god. The purpose of praying is to ask for help from your god, and as such, it must not be done too often. The player has a prayer timeout, a counter which is raised when praying, and decrements one turn at a time. Only when this counter reaches zero may the player pray safely again (exceptions exist, see below). Thus prayer is usually reserved for one of a few things: saving the player from almost certain doom, performing some action the player cannot yet do (removing cursed items, getting out of walls, etc.), or creating holy water. For those players who like a challenge, avoiding any interaction with gods, altars and other religious concepts in the game will satisfy the atheist conduct.

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Because prayer is usually used in dire situations, it is important to know when prayer will not save you. In fact, praying at the wrong time can hurt you, as your god may become angry enough to strike you with lightning or enact some other punishment. The following conditions make it unsafe to pray:

You are polymorphed into a demon and are attempting to pray to a non-chaotic god.

You are polymorphed into an undead creature and are attempting to pray to a non-chaotic god. (Neutrals have a 90% chance of being able to pray anyway.)

Not all afflictions are equally severe. Gods make a distinction between two groups of problems: minor problems and major problems. Most players do not bother to pray for relief from minor problems, but it is often the solution to a major problem.

Note that if your maximum HP is less than or equal to 5 * (level + 2) and you are praying as a result of low HP, you will also receive 1d5 extra points to your maximum, and then be healed to that new maximum.

The other useful purpose of prayer (besides praying for help) is to make holy or unholy water. Praying while standing on an altar on which potions of water were dropped will create (assuming the prayer is successful) these. Which one you get is dependent on your own alignment and that of the altar you are praying on. If you are standing on a coaligned altar, the water will become blessed (holy), and you will also receive the benefit of the prayer. If you are standing on another god's altar, the water will become cursed (unholy). Note that making a water prayer on another god's altar will anger your god, so this should be done with extreme caution.

If your god decides to grant you a favor, as explained above, the following table is used. The lookup number is generated by 1d((Luck+6)/2).[4]

Lookup number

Result

1

No favor.

2

Your weapon is dipped in holy water and any erosion is repaired. It is not made erodeproof. Only weapons and weapon-tools are eligible for this effect.

3

You either regain one lost experience level as though from a blessed potion of full healing (up to 1/2 the levels lost), or otherwise gain 5 maximum hitpoints; in both cases your hitpoints are restored to maximum. Any drained strength is restored, and your nutrition is reset to 900 if hungry or worse. (“You are surrounded by a golden glow.”)

4

First time: “Hark, mortal! To enter the castle, thou must play the right tune!” (“Hark, creature! ...” if not human). No effect.

Second time: Tune to enter the castle is revealed.

Subsequent times, or if the drawbridge has already been opened: Same as effect 3 above.

5

Uncurses all possessions (as blessed scroll of remove curse).(“You are surrounded by a light blue aura.”)(“Your <item> softly glows amber.”) If blind (“You feel the power of <deity>.”)

6

You gain one intrinsic, selected in order from (Telepathy, Speed, Stealth). If you already possess all of them, you gain intrinsic protection as if from a priest, except without the natural AC limits. (“Thou has pleased me with thy progress, and thus I grant thee the gift of...”)

7

You get a spellbook. (“An object appears at your <feet>!”)The game will generate a random spellbook according to the usual object generation probabilities. It will then re-roll another random spellbook up to xlvl times if it picks a spell you already know, a spell school you are restricted in, or (if not carrying a magic marker or you haven't identified one) a blank spellbook. "Know" means present in the spellcasting[Z] command menu. The book is always blessed.

Usually crowning is considered undesirable. Therefore, if you are repeatedly sacrificing and praying, you should try to reduce the chances of this happening. Putting away your luckstone will decrease your Luck to at most 10, reducing (but not eliminating) the possibility of crowning.

If you can reduce your Luck to 8 or 9, you are safe from crowning. This can be achieved by breaking a mirror (-2), or by jumping in Sokoban (-1). Be careful not to affect your Luck further by sacrificing too much, or by spending many turns without your luckstone.

Unsuccessful prayers can happen for a variety of reasons, documented above. The following table indicates the result of praying during one of these situations. Note you lose all intrinsic protection if any god smites you[5] or your god gets angry.

Condition

Result

Polymorphed into a demon and praying to a non-chaotic god

Receive "The very idea of praying to a <non-chaotic> god is repugnant to you.", no other effects.

Polymorphed into an undead creature and attempting to pray to a non-chaotic god

If lawful, receive "Vile creature, thou durst call upon me?". If neutral, receive "Walk no more, perversion of nature!". Both then receive "You feel like you are falling apart." You return to natural form (even if wearing an amulet of unchanging) and take 1d20 - 1 damage.